I finished it. They did cover the "couldn't this money have been better used elsewhere?" scenario, including having a Chinese scientist point out bitterly that this rescue mission is setting back space exploration by at least a decade, but they chalk it up to the essential decentness of humanity that we always pitch in when there's a high-profile case of an individual in trouble while skirting the fact that people are less likely to open their wallets when it's a larger group like disadvantaged youths.
At the risk of necro'ing the thread, I just finished this (in preparation for the movie
). I have to say, I enjoyed it all the way through. I think it was Mark's sense of humour that kept me going through most of it. Attention to detail is another thing that worked well, letting me really connect with Mark's struggle.
Such a good book. It's great because of the humor and detail mentioned above; also I think because we have the option of problem-solving with Mark.
Never Trust
Yes, considering the subject matter I expected it to be dry, if not outright grim. I was pleasantly surprised.
Trump delenda est
Rise from your grave! I read the book a few days ago.
One thing that bugs me though is about the early Pathfinder communication: Why did NASA keep sending all-caps messages after they started to send shortened, unspaced words? CamelCase would have been much easier to parse, without costing a single bit more.
It's a bit like they thought they were still talking in Morse... It bugs me so much that at first I suspected a translation oversight, until I saw the same passage in an AU fanfic with no reason to change that part from the book.
"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."
It's by Andy Weir, half of the pair that did Casey and Andy. Very interesting stuff. It follows an astronaut stranded on Mars and his attempts to survive, paralleled by the attempts on Earth to launch a mission to rescue him within four years. It's pretty hard science based on contemporary technology.
Probably says something about my moral outlook, but I'll admit that I'm having moments of wondering about the worth of cost of rescuing him. They're talking hundreds of millions for one person... how much food would that buy? How many homes for the homeless? {shakes head} Eeh...